WASHINGTON (CNS) – Washington is a city rich with powerful symbols. It is known for its monuments, memorials and corridors of power. And its big landmarks, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, will always loom large because of an 1899 law stipulating that no private structures in the city can be higher than either of them.In tourist season – early spring to late summer – visitors to the capital flock to the seats of government and monumental tributes to history with cameras always at the ready. But what they might not readily notice or capture for their photo albums...

ESCONDIDO, Calif., April 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- THE VESSEL OF PURIFICATION is believed to have been associated with the Prophet Moses over 3,300 years ago. Researchers have identified upon the Bronze Age Art-scroll artistic montage distinctive Paleo-Hebrew writing including the signature of its artist that elaborately signed, yet clearly spelled out his name, 'MoSHeH.' The investigation of a Hebrew artifact holds great significance to Muslims, Christians and Jewish people. The copyrighted artifact and its illustrations are available. The certified laboratory data collaborates with the ancient sacrificial system of ceremonially clean animals as well as healing plants used within the ancient...

"Where were you?" Whether the question is from Mom, the boss, the wife, the husband or the grown children; they are not asking, they are accusing: Why weren't you where you were supposed to be? Your answer is an excuse. Unless you answer "I've been here the whole time." A shepherd sees a little lamb run off. The shepherd runs after the lamb: to save it from wolves, to ensure the lamb has enough water and enough tender green grass. While chasing the lamb, he sees a bush on fire, but it isn't burning. He takes off his shoes in...

If you want to predict on which side an American will line up in the Culture War wracking America, virtually all you have to do is get an answer to this question: Does the person believe in the divinity and authority of the Five Books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah? ("Divinity" does not necessarily mean "literalism.") I do not ask this about "the Bible" as a whole because the one book that is regarded as having divine authority by believing Jews, Catholics, Protestants and Mormons, among others, is not the entire Bible,...

Rabbi S. David Sperling, isn't certain that Moses even existed or, if he did, whether the Bible provides much reliable information about him. Sperling contends that if traditional accounts of the origins of Judaism had not recorded a founder, "analogy would have required postulating him; and that is probably what happened" when ancients wrote the Bible... The introduction to Moses' life from another writer says "we cannot really reconstruct a biography of Moses. We cannot even be sure that Moses was a historical character." ...Conservative Judaism's official Torah commentary (2001) states that what should concern Jews is "not when, or...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006 4:28 p.m. EST Latest on Charlton Heston For those of us who have watched Charlton Heston in "Will Penny” a dozen times, the recent occasion of the Hollywood icon’s 83rd birthday on Oct. 4 brought back those sharp memories of the laconic aging cowboy soon headed to his last round-up. Despite intense interest in the star’s condition — he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2002 — his publicist and family are not responding to requests about his health. Indeed, the last reliable update on Charlton Heston’s battle with the illness came in...

What support is there for the claim that God spoke to all the Jewish people at the foot of Mount Sinai?Who did God give the Torah to at Mount Sinai? Most people reply, "God gave the Torah to Moses." And what were the Jewish people doing while Moses was receiving the Torah? "Worshipping the Golden Calf." Correct answers -- but NOT according to the Bible. The above answers come from Cecil B. DeMille's classic film, "The Ten Commandments." Amazing the impact one movie can have on the Jewish education of generations of Jews. It's a great film, but DeMille should...

Did Moses really part the Red Sea like it says in the Old Testament? What about the Nile turning blood red or the plagues that finally compelled Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery? Did those things actually happen? These are among the questions Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici attempts to answer in "The Exodus Decoded" which premieres Aug. 20, 8-9:30 p.m. (check local listings) on cable's History Channel. Challenging opinions that dismiss those events as myth, the thought-provoking documentary uses investigative journalism aided by modern science to examine archaeological and geological evidence in separating historical fact from fiction. Jacobovici...

Many of the bitter controversies in every corner of the globe inevitably raise the same ancient question: why does the world hate the Jews? Whether it’s the angry international reaction to Israel’s efforts to defend itself in Lebanon, or Mel Gibson’s drunken rant in Malibu, the age-old specter of anti-Semitism refuses to disappear. With only 13 million Jews in the world – less than one fourth of one percent of the earth’s population – why does this tiny group inspire such bitter, widespread and often violent animosity? The answer is obvious to anyone who monitors anti-Semitic propaganda from all its...

THE greatest story ever told has acquired a Hollywood twist. James Cameron, the director of Titanic, is the executive producer of a new documentary that claims to have uncovered fresh evidence confirming one of the most dramatic episodes in the Old Testament — the parting of the Red Sea and the Jewish exodus from Egypt. In The Exodus Decoded, a 90-minute documentary that will be shown in America this month, Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, the Canadian film producer, claim a volcanic eruption on the Greek archipelago of Santorini triggered a chain of natural catastrophes recorded in the Bible as the...

WASHINGTON - It will be a short stroll for Faith and Action if the evangelical Christian organization is forced into a legal battle over its efforts to display an 850-pound granite Ten Commandments monument in its front garden. After all, its Capitol Hill ministry is all of 30 feet from the U.S. Supreme Court. “We would love to discuss this in front of the nine justices,” said the Rev. Rob Schenck, Faith and Action president. “Our legal team is prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary,” he said. ... Click here to read the...

John AdamsSigner of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States [I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.) [W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only...

In this ABC made-for-TV production of "The Ten Commandments" we have a new Moses, ethnically and religiously cleansed. As played by Dougray Scott, Moses has been homogenized, pasteurized, sanitized, and dry-cleaned so as not to offend any race, religion, or creed. This Moses is not Hebrew, and in fact he's not anything but multi-cultural. Along both parts of this series that ran Monday and Tuesday, April 10 and 11, the word "Hebrew" never came up, neither attached to him or to his people, yes, the Hebrews. The best this fat-free, low-calorie script could do was refer to Moses as a...

Dougray Scott, currently the star of NBC's Heist and most famous as the villain of Mission: Impossible 2, trots out much scowling anger and sulking angst in the lead role. This is Method Moses. Tonight, back from his conference with the burning bush and heading toward Egypt, he stumbles over a rock and mutters, "You'd think if this is what He wanted He'd make the going a little easier." Tomorrow, he furrows his brow and frets, " 'I am who I am.' What does that mean? Why give me a riddle to solve?" And while he struggles with his faith,...

"I was really impressed with [DeMille's version] when I saw it as a young boy, because it was such a wonderful cinematic extravaganza ... Just because there has been this huge, colossal canvas painted with one man's vision doesn't mean we can't retell it."

Director Robert Dornhelm is painfully aware that there may be a large audience out there eagerly waiting to hate his new version of "The Ten Commandments," premiering Monday and Tuesday, April 10-11, on ABC. After all, the story of Moses leading the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt has been told before, and unforgettably, by Hollywood showman Cecil B. DeMille in his ultralavish 1956 production starring Charlton Heston as Moses. Adapted from a variety of religious novels, that earlier version introduced a number of extraneous characters and story lines to the biblical account, yet a fair number of fans today regard...

On March 21st, Paramount will be releasing a 50th anniversary DVD set of Cecil B. DeMille's legendary classic, The Ten Commandments - and frankly, the timing couldn't be any better. Why, you may ask? How could a 50 year-old epic from Hollywood's Golden Age still be 'relevant' today? I'll answer that question below - but let's first take a look back at this glorious and important film. The Ten Commandments happens to be the fifth highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. When the film was released in 1956, theater tickets cost 50 cents - and the film still...

Moses was born in Egypt on the 7th of Adar of the year 2368 from creation (1393 BCE), at a time when the Israelites was slaves to the rulers of the land and subject to many harsh decrees. He was the third born of Jocheved and Amram's three children -- his brother Aaron was his senior by three years, and his sister Miriam by six.

This is an excellent book that is both a detailed military history and a historical apologetics book. The authors' foundational point is that the military campaigns of the OT are so detailed that they couldn't have been fabricated and are not fables like some skeptics and liberal scholars would like us to believe. The authors do an incredible job at drawing out details from the English and Hebrew texts. This coupled with their own knowledge and experience in warfare, they paint a detailed picture of the Israeli campaigns. They also make many comparisons to later battles, leaders and campaigns in...

Scientist compares Moses to Hitler, calls New Testament 'sado-masochistic doctrine'Controversial scientist and evolutionist Richard Dawkins, dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiler," calls religion a "virus" and faith-based education "child abuse" in a two-part series he wrote and appears in that begins airing on the UK's Channel 4, beginning tomorrow evening. Entitled "Root of All Evil?," the series features the atheist Dawkins visiting Lourdes, France, Colorado Springs, Colo., the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and a British religious school, using each of the venues to argue religion subverts reason. In "The God Delusion," the first film in the series, Dawkins targets Catholicism at the pilgrimage...

Riley says Moore sought protection for monument Wednesday, December 21, 2005 By BILL BARROW Capital Bureau MONTGOMERY -- During the peak of public protests over removal of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore sent an emissary who asked Gov. Bob Riley to call out Alabama National Guard troops to protect the 5,280-pound rock, according to the governor. "That's where Roy and I parted ways," Riley told the Mobile Register of his chief opponent in the upcoming 2006 Republican primary for governor. Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Terry Butts, who came to...

This just in from the "what-can-you-say?" department. The rhetoric being delivered by the moral reprobates trying to save from execution next week Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the California quadruple murderer and founder of the Crips street gang, is getting even more overheated, hysterical and irrational. In calling for clemency for the monster who should serve as a walking, talking billboard for capital punishment, Jamal Watkins, western regional director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, compared Williams to Moses. I'm not kidding. Moses! What do Williams and Moses have in common? According to Watkins, Moses, too, was "found...

The Bible is full of praise for Persia (today's much-maligned Iran) and for its rulers. In the Book of Ezra, God speaks through the proclamations of Cyrus, the king of Persia, who declares, "The Lord God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem." Cyrus acceded to this divine command, and thus was the Second Temple in Jerusalem built. In other parts of the Old Testament, there is ringing praise of Cyrus as God's "anointed" and the "chosen" ruler, who freed Jews from their Babylonian...

BECK/SMITH HOLLYWOOD EXCLUSIVE New 'Ten Commandments' to Stir Hornet's Nest Says Naveen ABC's upcoming miniseries of 'The Ten Commandments' promises to push quite a few buttons, reports 'Lost' regular Naveen Andrews, who stars in the epic project with Dougray Scott, Omar Sharif, Linus Roache, Mia Maestro and Paul Rhys. Andrews predicts it will stir up a hornet's nest. 'What was unusual about the way we did this version of 'The Ten Commandments' was we treated Moses like he was a lunatic. If somebody came and told you today, 'I've just been talking to a burning bush,' you would try and...

Moses' Comet Moses’ Comet, by Mike Baillie Discovering Archeology, July/August 1999 Moses called down a host of calamities upon Egypt until the pharaoh finally freed the Israelites. Perhaps he had the help of a comet impact coupled with a volcano. A volcano destroyed the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea (between today's Greece and Turkey) around the middle of the second millennium B.C. Researchers Val LaMarche and Kathy Hirschboeck suggest the volcano might be associated with tree-ring evidence for several years of intense cold beginning in 1627 B.C. Could that form the basis for strange meteorological phenomena recorded in...

If you are nostalgic for the days when the Ten Commandments were posted in public buildings, you might want to consider visiting the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The tribal council is making plans to mount a copy of the Ten Commandments in the council house where government meetings are held, and possibly display them throughout other public buildings in the Cherokee Nation of western North Carolina. The idea was introduced by Councilwoman Angela Kephart last month. She said the tribe should display the Ten Commandments out of respect and devotion to God. The motion passed unanimously. "We aren't...

August 6, 2005Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Psalm: Saturday 34 Reading IDn 7:9-10, 13-14 As I watched: Thrones were set upand the Ancient One took his throne.His clothing was bright as snow,and the hair on his head as white as wool;his throne was flames of fire,with wheels of burning fire.A surging stream of fireflowed out from where he sat;Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,and myriads upon myriads attended him.The court was convened and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw: One like a Son of man coming,on the clouds of heaven;When...

The twelve stones in the breastplate of the ancient Hebrew high priest can now be identified, with the corresponding tribes of Israel. The Lord instructed Moses to have the names of the twelve sons of Israel engraved on twelve stones in the breastplate of the high priest. The exact order, arrangement, and type of each stone were explicitly stated (Ex. 28:17-21), but the name to be written on each stone was not given, perhaps because it was obvious to Moses. After the destruction of the temple, the knowledge of which tribe was associated with which stone was lost, and even...

JERUSALEM, AUGUST 3: Indian immigrants form the largest ethnic group of newcomers living in the Gaza Strip, which is slated for evacuation under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s controversial disengagement plan. The region has 146 members of the Bnei Menashe Tribe, who immigrated to Israel from Manipur and Mizoram in the last decade, closely followed by 144 French immigrants, figures released by the Absorption Ministry showed. As per the Ministry’s statistics, a total of 620 people who immigrated to Israel since 1989 are settled in areas scheduled to be evacuated. Of them, 488 live in the Gaza Strip and 137...

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is one of my all-time favorite movies, filled with mystery and adventure. It focuses on the search for a biblical artifact and treasure called The Ark of the Covenant. What makes the movie particularly exciting is how closely it mimics (with some added Hollywood flair) the real life hunt for the lost Ark. History has it that the original Ark was where God manifested His presence on earth beginning in the days of Moses. The Ark was designed as a chest made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It had four golden rings. Each one...

A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god," said Heyman. He was referring...

CAIRO (AFP) - A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed to AFP. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god,"...

Supreme Court decision pending... cartoon by FReeper IPWGOP (aka Linda Eddy)courtesy of www.iowapresidentialwatch.com click here for really large versionThis is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

I recall a cute comic strip depicting Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments written in stone. "I've got good news and bad news," he announces to the Israelites waiting anxiously at the bottom of the mountain. "The good news is that I got Him down to ten." The crowd cheers. "The bad news is that adultery is still in."

The Torah's last twelve verses record Moses' death (Deuteronomy 34: 1-12). He climbs to the top of Mount Pisgah, which overlooks Israel. "This is the land," the Lord tells him, "which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 'I will give to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross there". The following verse records Moses' death and burial in the land of Moab, where "no one knows his burial place to this day." The best explanation I know for why the gravesite of the greatest Jew who ever lived remains...

The world is hearing much these days about "prophets." Was Moses a prophet? Was Jesus a prophet? Was Mohammed a prophet? Interestingly, Moses, the man credited with leading the children of Israel out of Egypt is considered a great prophet by followers of Islam. Moses, or Musa, is mentioned often in the Quran. Much of the Quran is based on the teachings of Moses as opposed to the teaching of Jesus. Jesus is considered by Christians to be the Son of God. He was the Messiah all prophets before him, including Moses, had predicted changing them from mere "predictors" into...

Why do priests use incense at Mass? — A reader in AlexandriaIncense is an aromatic substance which is the resin from certain trees. When burned over charcoal, the incense produces a sweet smelling aroma. To make the smoke thicker and to enhance the fragrance, sometimes other perfumes are blended with the incense.The use of incense in the ancient world was common, especially in religious rites where it was used to keep demons away. Herodotus, the Greek historian, recorded that it was popular among the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians. In Judaism, incense was included in the thanksgiving offerings of oil, grain,...

the film may have benefited from the recent controversy that was ignited when several Jewish leaders warned that it could incite anti-Semitism by blaming the Jews for Christ's death. Instead, they noted, the movie appeared to exploit a more insidious form of anti-Semitism as "the film the Jews didn't want you to see."

Study: Red Sea Parting Possible By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Feb. 2, 2004 ? The parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent escape of thousands of Jewish slaves, which is described in the Bible's book of Exodus, can be explained by science, according to two Russian researchers. The study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is one of the first to examine the event using oceanography, weather patterns, and mathematical calculations. Naum Volzinger, senior researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of Oceanology, and colleague Alexei Androsov of Hamburg, determined that a reef runs from Egypt...

A Russian mathematician says he's come up with a logical explanation for Moses' parting of the waves. Naum Wolzinger says it had more to do with the changing of the tide than divine intervention. The scene where Moses parts the waves and leads the Israelites across the Red Sea is one of the most well known stories in the Bible. But Mr Wolzinger, from St Petersburg, said it was not a miracle. He says there is a riff six or seven metres under the water that runs from one bank of the Gulf of Suez to the other at the...

Motivated by what he views as an assault on free speech by the ACLU, a Georgia man has launched a campaign to distribute thousands of Ten Commandments signs across the nation. Robert Frey, a 33-year-old "average guy who's fed up and wants to do something," has set a goal of selling 100,000 signs, suitable for front yards, through a website, TheRevolutionWillBeLive.com. "By joining together in this spiritual battle we can give the ACLU a nightmare of fits when it realizes that the more it and its ilk try to destroy America, the stronger we will be, the louder we will...

Fox has been reporting the past few hours that the 10 Commandments monument might not leave the building. First, the federal court order states that the monument cannot be prominently displayed, not that it has to be removed from the premises. Second, it might not be possible to move the stone at all since only certain areas of the floor are enforced enough to support the weight, and it could crash through if it's rolled over an unenforced portion.

The Real Ten Commandments By Richard Carrier I keep hearing this chant, variously phrased: "The Ten Commandments are the foundation of Western morality and the American Constitution and government." In saying this, people are essentially crediting Moses with the invention of ethics, democracy and civil rights, a claim that is of course absurd. But its absurdity is eclipsed by its injustice, for there is another lawmaker who is far more important to us, whose ideas and actions lie far more at the foundation of American government, and whose own Ten Commandments were distributed at large and influencing the greatest civilizations...

Special Dispatch - Egypt August 22, 2003 No. 556 (Translated from Arabic Language Sources) Egyptian Jurists to Sue 'The Jews' for Compensation for 'Trillions' of Tons of Gold Allegedly Stolen During Exodus from Egypt The August 9, 2003 edition of the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi featured an interview with Dr. Nabil Hilmi, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq who, together with a group of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland, is preparing an enormous lawsuit against "all the Jews of the world." The following are excerpts from the interview: (1) Dr. Hilmi: "... Since the Jews...

Moses' Egyptian Name Ogden Goelet The history of Israel begins with its enslavement in Egypt. Israel is defined in opposition to everything Egyptian—they are powerful, Israel is weak; they are rich, Israel is poor; they have many gods, Israel has one. Isn’t it ironic, then, that the greatest Hebrew prophet and lawgiver, the man who single-handedly organized the Israelites and led them out of Egypt, has an Egyptian name? And his name is not just any Egyptian name, it’s a religious Egyptian name. Moses’ name reflects basic Egyptian religious beliefs that are, in truth, not as different from Mosaic Judaism...

Italy Kicks Off Venice Flooding Project VENICE, Italy - Premier Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated an ambitious $4 billion project to ease the flooding that regularly deluges this celebrated canal city. The "Moses" project — named after the Biblical figure who parted the Red Sea — is expected to take about eight years. Hinged barriers will be built on the seabed just off Venice and will be raised when high tides threaten the city. "Venice is magnificent, the pride of all Italy," Berlusconi said on Wednesday as officials prepared to lay the first stone of the project. "Attention to saving this patrimony,...

Ben-Hur is packin' up his pistols. An ailing Charlton Heston is stepping down as president of the National Rifle Association after five years at the helm of the nation's largest gun owners' group. "Every year he had to run for reelection," said Kelly Whitby, an NRA spokeswoman. "This year he's choosing not to run." Heston, 78, courted controversy as head of the 4 million-member group and regularly attacked former President Bill Clinton as being soft on crime. The actor, who starred as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" and won a 1959 Oscar for his performance in "Ben-Hur," announced last year...

Anyone who has ever played a game, been involved in any type of competition, or conducted any type of scientific investigation knows that "ground rules" must be established at the beginning. It is far better to know the rules before beginning the investigation rather than try to establish them as you go.